What are the key benefits of adopting CCI?

• Increase employee morale, loyalty, retention, attendance, and performance: Corporate community investment, especially through employees, is one way to build a sense of identification with the values and goals of the employer and foster team spirit and individual commitment. It can help meet many of the modern challenges facing HR managers, adding directly to the bottom line. Morale and motivation can be tracked, for example through staff attitude surveys; MORI found that nine in ten employees agree that a company that supports the community is probably a good company to work for.

And Walker Information www.walkerinformation.com, a US-based research firm specialising in evaluating stakeholder satisfaction, reports that employees with a favourable view of community commitment intend to stay with the firm significantly longer than others.

A cost / benefit analysis, using parallel indicators such as staff turnover and absenteeism, can be used to demonstrate the business benefits from improved morale and motivation. The Corporate Citizenship Company has done extensive research on this subject go to www.corporate-citizenship.co.uk

• Develop employee skills: Many employer programmes in the community can help foster employee skills. A range of studies has found that volunteering and other forms of employee involvement helped develop a variety of competencies, including teamwork, planning and implementation, communication, project management, problem solving, budgeting, listening skills and customer focus. Volunteering can challenge employees by taking them outside the confines of their usual 9-5 job, encourage innovation and creativity, promote respect for difference and affirm their personal contribution and confidence.

• Enhance company reputation and brand: Active involvement in community activities builds a positive reputation with stakeholders, both internal and external. Local recognition helps a company secure the all-important ‘licence to operate’, particularly if it is one of the main and most high-profile employers in the area. Leadership companies are often favourably mentioned in the media, and are recommended to and invested in by those who screen companies for social responsibility.

  According to the organisation Business for Social Responsibility www.bsr.org, studies show a link between corporate reputation and financial success, noting that 'more than 12.5% of investment in U.S. companies is screened for social factors such as community investment'. BSR also states that companies noted for their corporate citizenship may experience a three-to-one advantage in attracting investors, business partners, and new employees and in establishing customer preference.

• Increase customer goodwill and loyalty: As the price and quality of products and services become increasingly standardised throughout many industries, community investment may help differentiate a company from its competitors and increase brand loyalty.

• Improve relationships with the community: Many companies find that community investment does not require sacrificing profits and, in fact, can open new markets, reduce local regulatory obstacles, provide access to the local political process, generate positive media coverage and increase company or brand awareness within the community.

Research has shown that the public expects companies to 'give back' more to their communities, and often views negatively the companies that are not perceived as doing their fair share. In the long run, community investment helps build community capacity, creating a stable, sustainable and healthy local community which will often supply a large proportion of the company’s employees and sometimes customers.

• Spur innovation and creativity. Community investment can give companies and their employees access to new networks and perspectives that help them keep in touch with rapidly changing societies. It can help identify new market needs, explore different ways of working and encourage employees to use their initiative. It can also foster inter-departmental cohesion by enabling new teams to work together and create a sense of common purpose.